A Douglas County school bus makes its rounds on Buckeye Road in Minden.
A tentative 2025-26 budget being presented to Douglas County School Board trustees includes a reduction of eight full-time classroom teachers.
“These positions will be vacated by resignation or retirement,” Superintendent Frankie Alvarado said on Monday. “However, these are not positions that will be held by employees as of July 1. We are eliminating vacant budgeted positions for the 2025-26 school year.”
Trustees are scheduled to discuss the district’s $105.23 million budget at their meeting 4 p.m. Thursday at the Douglas County School Board at Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove.
In the tentative budget explanation, Business Manager Susan Estes said that the district will be dipping into its unreserved fund balance due to a decrease in enrollment and an increase in Public Employee Retirement System costs.
“Staff has been reduced to accommodate the decrease in enrollment as well as decreased revenue from the state” Estes explained.
Government budgets are dealing with the increase in PERS across the board that went from 33.5 percent to 36.75 percent for employer paid and 17.5 percent to 19.25 for employee-employer paid.
Nevada schools are funded based on weighted school enrollment, which is predicted to be 4,819 students next year, down from April’s total of 4,890.
According to the budget published with Thursday’s agenda, the estimated number of students for the end of the year was 4,815.
The state education base funding is estimated to be $10,691 per student.
Governments across the state are required to submit a tentative budget in mid-April and a final budget in May.
Because the Legislature is in session, it’s possible there might be adjustments to the amount of money provided to the district.
Those aren’t generally known until after the district completes its budget and requires adjustments later on.
School districts in Nevada are funded by a 75-cent per $100 assessed valuation in property taxes. Those funds are then distributed to the various districts based on enrollment and the percentage of students in different categories.